Golovkin's Promoter: Tremendous Buzz For Rubio Bout

By Francisco Salazar

Gennady Golovkin has become quite the hot ticket in Southern California.

So much so that his 12 round middleweight bout against Marco Antonio Rubio on October 18 at the Stubhub Center in Carson has sold out. While many fight fans have scoured websites like Stubhub to see if they could still get their hands on those tickets, there is a possibility tickets could be available after all.

That is because K2 Promotions, who is promoting the card in association with Promociones Del Pueblo, is looking into solidifying additional bleacher seating inside the tennis court stadium at the Stubhub Center.

If additional bleacher seating is approved, the fight card could make it the most-attended card in the history of the Stubhub Center, not counting the almost 30,000 people that witnessed the Oscar De La Hoya-Steve Forbes bout inside the soccer stadium in 2007.

The most fans to watch a fight inside the tennis court stadium was reportedly last year in June, when 8,629 watched Marcos Maidana stop Josesito Lopez in the sixth round.

According to Tom Loeffler, the sellout for next Saturday's card is a testament to Golovkin's popularity amongst fight fans, especially in the United States, where he debuted two years ago.

"Gennady has fought five times on HBO," Loeffler told Boxingscene.com over the phone earlier this week. "He's had five knockouts in those fights and he has knocked out his last 17 opponents in a row. The anticipation of fighting in Southern California has grown. We have done press conferences and work outs here (in Southern California). So I think the fan anticipation has been very high for Gennady. There has been a tremendous buzz for this fight."

What has been precedented about the fight card being sold out has been in the manner tickets were bought. Over half of the tickets were purchased in the approximate week since going on sale.

Tickets were bought in large numbers that standing room only tickets were sold. Those tickets went quick, along with the remaining available tickets that had originally gone on sale.

The amount of tickets that were quickly purchased did surprise Loeffler, who is the Managing Director of K2 Promotions.

"I thought we had a very good chance at selling out since the tickets were reasonably priced ($25-$200). But I was surprised how quickly tickets were purchased. One month before the fight, we were releasing standing room only tickets as well."

"We looked at every possible scenario (after all tickets were sold). We even thought about doing closed circuit viewing in the (nearby) stadium, but the screen is too small."

Loeffler is waiting to hear whether the additional bleacher seating will be approved for October 18. He has two sets of bleachers waiting to be erected to accommodate those fight fans who missed out on buying tickets in the first place.

Should Golovkin fight again in Southern California, it will be interesting to see where he will fight again. One thing is clear: he has become a hot ticket on this side of the country as well.

"He has a following now and a reputation with scoring spectacular knockouts," said Loeffler. "He's more exciting than watching fights that go 12 rounds."  

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern Californian and abroad since 2000. Salazar also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and the Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing